Stubbornness killed the rabbit

Walking into the kitchen with Proteus behind her, Miriam quickly went to the sink, soaking a cloth in cold water and handing it to Proteus. She hoped it would help his head. The cut looked bad, but as he had managed to recover from it rather quickly she knew it wasn't serious.She leaned over the counter, needed it to support herself to stay on her feet. She was moving far too much, and she wasn't letting herself get enough time to recover. She knew the more she moved the worse her state would get, but she was too stubborn to sit down and relax.

Proteus followed Miriam in the kitchen: his head was hurting like hell, he could feel the blood in his hair and he was also feeling dizzy, but he wasn't going to complain. After all, he was still alive. When Miriam handed him a soaked cloth he took it with a smile "Thanks" and carefully put it on his head: for a moment it hurted even more, but after a few seconds it started to help and the pain lowered a bit."Now what can I do for you?" he asked smiling again: he kinda knew her answer, but he had at least to ask, and somehow he wanted to help her, or at least convince her to rest...

"I'll be fine," she sighed as she rested over the counter, not looking at him. She couldn't focus on anything through her blurred vision, and the more she moved the worse it got. Closing her eyes for a little while to try to help her head from spinning she pulled away from the counter."Just give it time and it'll-" was all she could say before her legs gave way, everything went black and she collapsed to the floor.

He got what was going to happen a few second before she actually lost her senses: he ran toward her and managed to take her in his arms when she was only a few inches away from the floor: he sighed, laying her gently down on the floor, then fastly he took a second cloth and put it under her head. He would have used his own wet cloth to wet her forehead, but before to put it on her he realized he was dirty of blood, so he raised and approached again the sink, to wet a new one

Miriam was surrounded by darkness, unable to see or move, the whole world spinning. The only thing giving away the life in her was her heavy breathing which grew heavier for each breath she took. Luckily she had passed out, or she would have felt an extreme discomfort.

Fastly he wet a cloth and came back to her: he was still feeling pain and dizziness, but he didn't care, his priority was to help her. He put the wet cloth on her forehead "Miriam, Miriam please wake up..."

Miriam stayed unconcious on the floor, her heartbeat and her breathing not slowing one bit, but it was not quickening its pace either, which could be looked at as a positive sign. The only thing changing in her was an occassional flickering with her eyes, but she never opened them.

He kept wetting her forehead, getting more and more worried, he kept calling her without knowing what to do*If she won't wake uo i'll go search for Frollo...* it didn't matter that the priest was probably still mad at him, he didn't care in that moment, he had to help her somehow...

Miriam's eyes flickered again, opening slightly, but her vision was still blurry, even if the world had stopped spinning.She saw a figure standing above her, but in her disorientation she could not see who it was, nor could she think logically enough to realize there could only be one person. Her mind was still in between dream and reality, dangerously close to the edge of passing out again."Rin?" she asked breathlessly as she tried to focus on the shape, but the more she did so the blurrier her vision got.

He breathed relieved when she opened her eyes and talked "Miriam, Miriam it's me, it's Proteus, stay calm, you just fainted..." he didn't got the word that she pronounced, but didn't even gave importance to it: after all she had just fainted, she probably was still dizzy and confused.

The memories flooded her in an instant and she quickly sat up knowing how pathetic she must have looked falling to the floor, but she immidiatly regretted sitting up as she overwhelming darkness re-appeared as a thick border in her vision.She grabbed his arm for support to stay sitting up, but sat still, calming herself. She would not faint again, and she knew she would have to stay still even if she did not like it, until the feeling passed. Instead she took to her neck, feeling the sour bruises that had already appeared.

He frowned when she sta up so suddenly "Miriam, you should stay still if you don't wanna faint again." he said in a sigh: why the girl had to be so stubborn? Why she could stay still only when she fainted? "You should lay down again... if it's uncomfortable i can take you again to the sofa"

She sighed deeply, her breathing finally calming itself down, even if her heart was still beating quickly."It's already getting better," she sighed, knowing she still looked like a mess, but it was true non the less. The only thing she worried about was the bruises on her neck. They were big and blue and looked like a giant necklace around her neck. The bastard had ran off, but not without leaving a mark, and that was a mark that hurt. As opposed to her other wounds, these bruises would hurt until they faded away.

"But it won't get actually better if you don't give your body the time that it needs to recover a bit" he replied in a new sigh: the girl couldn't last for long if she wouldn't have stopped to act like her body was indestructible. He looked at the bruises on her neck: it had really to hurt a lot..."Stay still" he said to her, actually ready to stop her if she had tried to wriggle away or to raise up, and put gently the wet cloth that he had used to wet her forehead on the bruises"We can ask Frollo if somewhere he has some ointment for things like that..."

"You're treating me like a baby!" she snapped at him, obviously angry at how patronising she felt he was.Of course he only meant well, but in her eyes she felt it as if he thought she could not handle herself, and him giving her orders wasn't exactly proving her wrong. She never took orders from anyone, and having to simply because she was weaker than him was infuriating.

He shook his head "I'm treating you like a person that has just fainted. I don't wanna bother you, i'm just worried for you" He said putting in her hands the wet cloth and approaching again the sink, just hoping she would have been smart enough to not raise again."I'd like to think you would do the same for me" he replied wetting again his cloth and putting it again on the cut on his head.

She sat still, not bothering to defy him knowing it would only lead to him forcing her to stay still.She doubted she would have done the same. Any person in here was looking out for themselves, and though she liked Proteus, she would never clean up his own mistakes. What he had gotten himself into was upto him to get out of, she was not his mother, or even his girlfriend."Maybe you think too fondly of people," she muttered instead as she put the wet cloth to her head, feeling the cold sensation clear her mind immidiatly. She was still dizzy, but somehow she managed to keep the darkness away.

"maybe i do" he replied with a smile, turning again and walkig toward her to sit then next to her on the floor. Maybe she was right, it wasn't even the first time he had listened something like that, but it was his nature and he was fine in that way.

"How is your head feeling?" she asked, more to take the attention away from herself than because she genuinly cared.She stood up, again leaning over the counter. If she had stayed in the sitting room she might have been able to sit still, but she was in no way intending to sit on the kitchen floor for a long period of time. Fainting had been degrading enough, she would not stay down.

"Better, really better" he lied to her: actually it still hurted terribly, and even if the wet cloth had brought a bit of relief the cut still hurted a lot and he was still feeling dizzy."I think i'll go in the sitting room... wanna join me?"

She didn't answer him, as she didn't know what to tell him. She would follow him, though there was no reason to. Mostly, she guessed, due to the lack of seating furniture in the kitchen. Wether she would admit it or not she really needed to sit down for a while, and she hoped her answer would be clear by the way she walked past him out of the kitchen, heading straight towards the sitting room.